YoungFounders

YoungFounders

We're Young Founders, a two week immersive enterprise education programme for 16-18 year olds.We've developed a programme that takes you from early stage idea through to pitch-able business in just two weeks. In vibrant workspaces across the country we're helping to make technology startups accessible to the generation who need them most, learn about the core pillars of the programme below.

1. The Knowledge

1. Knowledge

Having a strong base knowledge is critical for increasing your confidence and encouraging you to pursue a career in the creative and technology industries. As such, we've partnered with some leading large companies, as well as many key players in the UK technology sector, to develop a curriculum of what they think you should know. Experts from every different field have come together to create a bed of content that is unrivalled. For example, KPMG have developed a module on accounting, Salesforce on how to nail the sales process and ustwo on product development.

We want to equip you with the skills, knowledge and inspiration to succeed. Delivery of this is based on three core components: seminars from founders/investors/specialists, inspiration from an incredible set of mentors and a creative space in which our cohort can share and iterate on ideas.

2. The Inspiration

2. Experience

Being young is great but it also means that we have next to no experience. Experience is critical in avoiding the common pitfalls that business fall into and understanding how different sectors work. Over 30 mentors came in and spent time with the YF2015 cohort, ranging from the CEO of a FTSE100 company to a 3 month old startup.

Our mentors is split into two sectors, those who can benefit everyone and are scheduled before the programme begins, and those who we find once we get to know you. For example, last year we connected Gabriel (YF2015) and James (Vinetrade, now M&S) as he wanted some advice on the wine industry. James continues to support Gabriel now, recently helping arrange a trip to explore Berlin's tech ecosystem.

Andrew Fisher

Executive Chairman, Shazam

James Bromley

COO, SwiftKey

Frank Meehan

CEO, SmartUp

Adnan Ebrahim

CEO, CircleSix (CarThrottle)

Eileen Burbidge

Partner, Passion Capital & Chair, TechCity UK

Ronan Dunne

CEO, O2

3. JFDI

The seminars and mentor sessions are great, but the most important aspect of Young Founders is the time we give you to work on your ideas. All of our programmes are run out of local startup hubs and every attendee will be given a desk. This, combined with having other creative and motivated young people around you, creates the perfect environment to experiment and develop your ideas.

One year on, many of our alumni, like Buzz Maids, are still pursuing the startup ideas that they first started to work on at YF2015. We provide the launchpad for you to get going, from early stage idea at the start of the two weeks to a refined idea that you will pitch in front of your peers at the end of the second week.